In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that approximately 25.5 million men and 21.5 million women smoke. In other words, 24.1% of all men and 19.2% of all women are smokers. There are many reasons people start smoking, including, but not limited to, stress, life problems, peer pressure, family history, and personality tendencies. There are also many reasons people to want to quit smoking, including, but not limited to, health problems (such as lung cancer); and the smell, stained teeth, bad breath, wrinkled skin, and yellow nails associated with smoking. Moreover, smoking can cause the average male to lose 13.2 years of his life, and the average female to lose 14.5 years of her life.
People have invented many ways to quit smoking. U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,777 to Pera (2005) employs a composition that can take a capsule, powder, or liquid form, and that satisfies a smoker's craving for nicotine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,740 to Jones (2003) satisfies a smoker's craving for nicotine via a nasal spray. Other “quit smoking” inventions include, but are not limited to, adult pacifiers (i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 6,458,159 to Peters-Combs (2002)); cigarette aeration and filtration devices (i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,061 (1999)); wristwatches (i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,939 to Krstulovic (2001)); spinal cord stimulation (i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,488 to Hess (2001)); and chemotherapy (i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,357 to Eig (2001)). There is even a cigarette pack that plays an anti-smoking message each time the smoker opens it (U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,768 to Schaffner, et al. (2003)).
Despite all the creative ways people have tried to quit smoking, a study by the American Cancer Society in 2005 shows that only 2.5% of smokers who try to quit smoking each year actually succeed. Clearly, there is still a need for more ways to quit smoking; for, not every method will work for each individual smoker.
However, there also is a need for inhibiting the physiological effects of smoking for individuals who cannot quit or have a difficult and/or prolonged program to stop smoking. Thus, it can be advantageous to treat, inhibit, or prevent the adverse physiological effects of smoking so that the overall health of a smoker is maintained or increased.